Country Roads, Take me Home...

Sarah and I took a trip to the family cemetery, to do some cleaning of stones and plots, and picture and note taking. I had taken some family history pages with us, and we noted stones of people mentioned in the stories.

I love going places with Sarah, because she "so gets" the "need" to take pictures.

We peeked through windows in the church, to see if we could get a picture of the pews, but there was too much glare. My great-grandfather built them, and they are still in use.

My great-great grandparents were charter members of this church. I'm glad to see that even though the congregation has made additions in recent years, to accomodate their growth, they've maintained the original character of the building.

We mosied on down the road to the Yoder store.

Where you can buy a straw hat, cold pop, or garden rake.

We chose to buy an ice-cream and sit on the porch out front, to eat it.

I wonder if my Grandma ever sat there eating ice-cream with Katie Yoder as a girl?

Chautauqua

We went to Kate's to help paint her living-room and dining-room. To get all "primed" for a great afternoon, we attended the Chautauqua Parade first. The kids had their goodies bag all ready to gather candies from all of the generous community members in the parade.
There were garage bands


and Elvis sightings

Dueling Elvis'

Vigilant traffic cops

Firetrucks, new....

and old.

Lots of friendly faces.

Upon arrival at home, there were decisions to make, pouring over their spoils.....which "ONE?"

Chautauqua, ( sha-taw-kwa ), was a educational movement in the late 1800's til the mid 1920's. Particularly popular in rural areas, in the summer, people would go to campgrounds, pitch tents, and listen to musicians, preachers, speakers, teachers, entertainers, etc. There are numerous references to our family's participation, as I study old family letters and history. This is an old photo of some of our family at the Chautauqua festival in 1917. (Something tells me, there weren't any Elvis sightings at that one!) Theodore Roosevelt supposedly said that Chautauqua was "the most American thing in America."

Campout

The girls were here for a sleepover. We decided to make it a campout. Even though we have a firepit up at the top of our orchard, it's been so dry, we kept our campfire confined to the barbeque grill. It's all forest behind us, and we don't need to be the cause of a wildfire.
The girls enjoyed roasting their own hotdogs though.

And eating them!

Afterwards, there were marshmallows to roast.

for S'mores.

And the new rage....roasted starbursts

Yay! Starburst Kabobs!

I slept in the tent with the girls. It was so heartwarming to be read Bible stories by the oldest, (while the youngest snored). She would read one, then say"OH! THIS one is my FAVorite!" and read another one, and then another FAVORITE. love it

I read her to sleep, reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's "On the Banks of Plum Creek." We cheated and used a long extension cord and lamp in the tent, to save on our flashlight batteries, but it was still cozy. Reading about the Ingalls dugout was even more fun, because I've been working on family history/genealogy, and had just been reading a letter to me from my great uncle, telling about their family living in a dugout, and homesteading, when he was a boy.

Greenhouse Thyme

On our way to the coast, we stopped at one of my favorite nurseries. I think Mom and "the girls" are fans of it now also. There is a greenhouse tropical oasis and I found a new appreciation for Passion Flowers. In the past, the ones I had seen, had been rather pale and anemic looking lavender and yellow numbers. I hadn't been impressed. I don't know what variety these are, or the Latin name, but these little beauties really caught my camera's eye. I call them "Nature's Kaleidoscope."

Passion Flowers have been used herbally in treating anxiety and seizures, which would've come in real handy last night when Jim and I were caught up in a construction zone traffic snarl FOR AN HOUR at 10:40pm. Note to self* Don't tell hubby you can't wait to get home into your own cozy bed, that you're so tired you feel nauseous.....Murphy's law evidently says 2 minutes later you'll be in a Traffic jam. ;)

I'm not sure what this next picture is, I think it's lovely too. I just call it "flower within a flower." Or the "three sisters flowers" This particular shot reminds me of a fairy tale from a favorite book when I was a little girl. It was a sort of wierd one about sisters that all had different #'s of eyes. So meet Little One Eye, Little Two Eye, and Little Three Eye....

Grimm, I know.

I think, Jen got not one, not two, but three of these beautiful angel trumpets. One in each of the colors they had.



They won't survive outside in our climate zone, and since they grow into the tree you see here in the foreground.....

I'm seeing either a new VERY large sky-light in her living room or the construction of a pole-barn greenhouse by her hubby, in the future!

Footprints

These reminded me of the poem Footprints in the Sand, about there only being one pair of prints during times of trouble, because Jesus is carrying us during those times. In January, a dear friend of mine ended her long battle with cancer, and went home to be with Jesus. Her precious daughter is now sitting at the hospital bedside of her own sweet little 11 year old daughter very ill with e-coli. Please pray for Annie to be healed, and for her family to be carried by Jesus, during this difficult time.

Girls Getaway

Mom, Peg, Jen and I ran away from home (for a few days.) Peg blessed us all with a cottage at the beach, and Mom provided transportation. These were the only buoys allowed!

We watched kites,

waves,

had clam chowder in Jen's homemade bread bowls,

got smoked out by our fireplace....

drank virgin mojitos (in cute little fishy glasses Jen brought)

watched the waves some more

andate and drank some more

(this time shrimp scampi and virgin strawberry margaritas)

watched the sun turn the waves into diamonds

ate shrimp coctail

watched the sun set on the waves....

Are you noticing a pattern here? We had nice weather, took walks, ate, watched other people take walks, soaked up the sun, ate, read, napped, ate, had a perfume party (Thanks Jen!),

played night after night of catch phrase, and laughed til our sides hurt.